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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.

 

Hours later, President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin “negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war.

In a social media post that upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine, the Republican disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would “work together, very closely.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said Zelenskyy and Trump also had a phone conversation.

 

Addressing allies eager to hear how much continued support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defence of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include US troops.

 

The defence secretary, making the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, also said the force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the US or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.

 

Hegseth's warning to Ukraine that it should abandon its NATO bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory sent a stark message to Kyiv, signalling that the Trump administration's view of a potential settlement is remarkably close to Moscow's vision.

 

Putin has declared that any peace deal must ensure that Ukraine gives up its NATO ambitions and withdraws its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured.

 

The secretary's comments were sure to dim Ukraine's hopes of making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelenskyy and US Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security conference in Munich.